Williams Hall

Williams Hall occupies the 1912 concrete sanctuary at the corner of Fleming and William streets, the third church to stand on that spot and the one built to last after the 1909 hurricane took its predecessor. It opened as the Fleming Street Methodist Church, part of a Methodist presence in Key West that dates to 1847, and it has held weddings, funerals and baptisms since its first wedding in June 1918. It takes its current name from Mother Williams, a late pastor from Bahama Village.

Maria and Rob Sharpe bought the building when it came up for sale and donated it to a nonprofit with an independent board. A two-year restoration followed, repairing termite damage, sanding and polishing the pine-plank ceilings and restoring the original 1912 stained glass, funded by the Joan and Edward Knight Foundation and private donations. Work by local artists hangs on the walls.

It operates today as a multi-denominational church, with services on Sunday mornings and evenings and on Wednesday evenings, sermons delivered by pastors from a range of denominations, and space offered to congregations that need somewhere to worship.

Around the services sit two bodies of programming. For teenagers there is the Williams Hall Conservatory of Theater Arts, taught by working Key West theater professionals, a drama club, Humble Hands boxing and martial arts, and classes in life skills, public speaking, interviewing, graphic design and financial literacy. For older adults there are balance and strength classes, technology training, foreign language and computer classes, financial planning, and a sewing room used by knitting and quilting groups.

The Unity Table is the part most visitors encounter. It is a teaching kitchen rather than a restaurant, run by culinary director Martha Hubbard, author of the Key West cookbook Old Island Eats. It hosts semester-long culinary workshops, chef demonstrations and community dinners where guests watch the cooking happen, and it teaches teenagers to cook while introducing older adults to new cuisines. Proceeds from the dinners fund the youth and senior programs.

The hall also stages theatrical productions and a concert series, and the building is available to rent as a venue.